Michael Douglas - Doctors Missed Douglas' Throat Cancer

MICHAEL DOUGLAS' throat cancer was initially overlooked by doctors - and the actor even went on a family holiday because a number of medics "didn't find anything" wrong with him.

The Wall Street legend is currently undergoing a course of chemotherapy and radiotherapy after doctors discovered a tumour in his throat last month (Aug10).

Douglas admits he had been feeling unwell for weeks prior to his diagnosis and sought medical advice in the "early summer".

Doctors failed to spot the tumour and the actor jetted off to Spain and Russia on holiday with his wife Catherine Zeta-Jones and their two children, Dylan and Carys.

He tells America's Late Show with David Letterman, "It had been bothering me for a while. Early summer I had a really sore throat. I went through a litany of doctors and tests and they didn't find anything and then I had a great summer after some other personal adversities. A wonderful summer with Catherine and the kids in Spain. We went to Russia, St. Petersburg, which is fantastic."

But after returning home from his travels, doctors had bad news for Douglas.

He adds, "I came back and a guy (doctor) said 'Let me have a look'. (It) all happened within three weeks They got a biopsy and analysed it. It's (cancer) a stage four, which is intense, and they gotta go at it.

"You like to be down at stage one but the big thing you worry about is it spreading - I am head and neck, I am above the neck, so nothing's gone down and the expectations are good."